SEC releases 2019 football schedule featuring two open dates

The SEC's 2019 football schedule, released Tuesday by the league, has an Ole Miss with an open date and Mississippi State without one the Saturday before the teams meet on Nov. 28 in Starkville.(Photo: AP)

Just three weeks into the 2018 football season, the SEC has announced its 2019 football schedule which features two open dates instead of one for each of the league’s 14 members.

Here’s schedule highlights for both Ole Miss and Mississippi State, followed by the week-by-week schedule for the Rebels and the Bulldogs.

Ole Miss

The Rebels welcome California to Oxford on Sept. 21. It’s the first time a Pac-12 team has ever played in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium and it’s a return game of Ole Miss’ 27-16 loss last season at Berkley.

Also, Ole Miss travels to Missouri to play the Tigers for the first time as an SEC member. Ole Miss is 1-6 vs. Missouri, last being swept in a home-and-home in 2006 in Columbia and 2007 in Oxford.

The LSU game, which is Sept. 29 in Baton Rouge on this year’s schedule, falls all the way to Nov. 16 in Oxford next year.

Mississippi State

MSU opens 2019 playing UL-Lafayette, the team the Bulldogs trounced 56-10 last Saturday, in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on August 31.

The intrastate battle of Southern Miss at Mississippi State follows on Sept. 7 and then a return game from Big 12 member Kansas State on Sept. 14.

The fifth playing date of the season, Sept. 28, is the state of Mississippi invading the state of Alabama. Ole Miss plays at Alabama and Mississippi State is at Auburn.

Open dates for Ole Miss are Oct. 26 and Nov. 23. Mississippi State’s open dates are Oct. 5 and Nov. 9.

Finally, there’s this scheduling quirk that will make Rebels’ fans happy and Mississippi State backers angry.

Ole Miss has an open date and Mississippi State doesn’t the Saturday before the teams meet five days later in the Egg Bowl in Starkville on Nov. 28.